Eby Kept a Candidate After a Real-Estate Regulator Found Misleading Information

David Eby’s BC NDP is asking Richmond-Bridgeport voters to trust Linda Li with provincial lawmaking after B.C.’s real-estate regulator put a very different record on paper.

In a June 30, 2026 Notice of Administrative Penalty, the BC Financial Services Authority said the Superintendent of Real Estate was satisfied Li had contravened designated provisions of the Real Estate Services Act and Rules. The penalties totalled $8,500: $2,500 for failing, as managing broker, to ensure a brokerage file was complete and properly signed; $5,000 for failing to take reasonable steps to avoid a conflict of interest; and $1,000 for providing incomplete and misleading information during the investigation.

The conflict finding is plain enough. BCFSA said Li acted for a buyer in a transaction involving a property she had previously listed for the seller, while another licensee in her brokerage had the listing. The regulator said no formal safeguards were in place to prevent access to confidential client information inside the brokerage, and that Li did not promptly and fully disclose the conflict to her client in writing when the agency relationship was established.

The investigation finding is worse for anyone seeking public office. BCFSA said disclosure forms were missing when records were first requested. Li later submitted them without explaining, until the regulator asked for DocuSign audit records, that the forms had been completed after the transaction and signed during the investigation — roughly one year after they were required. The notice says the documents were backdated and that Li “withheld and concealed key information from BCFSA,” resulting in information being provided in a misleading manner.

That is the regulator’s finding, not a criminal charge and not a court conviction. It should be described accurately. It is also not just an “opposition attack.” The Conservative Party of BC’s October 15 statement demanding Li’s removal is political advocacy, and should be labelled that way. But the underlying record is BCFSA’s own public notice.

Voche, summarizing North Shore News reporting, later reported that Eby said on October 16 that he would not remove Li, quoting him as saying, “No, I’m not firing Linda Li,” and referring to the matter as a regulatory infraction. If that is the NDP’s final answer, it is not enough. Eby should say when the party learned of the June 30 notice, whether it was reviewed before candidate confirmation, and why the finding did not trigger a higher public standard.

Housing trust is not abstract in British Columbia. Real-estate disclosure rules exist because buyers, sellers and the public need confidence that professionals are not hiding material facts. The standard for helping write housing law should be higher, not lower, than the standard that triggered a regulator penalty.